


I See Your True Colours

by MagicaDraconia16



Series: 2021 Bingos [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family, Fluff, Humor, Ironhusbands Bingo 2020, M/M, Marvel Fluff Bingo 2021, Minor Angst, Minor bad language, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Post-MIT, Pre-Iron Man 1, Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV, Touch-Starved, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28894542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicaDraconia16/pseuds/MagicaDraconia16
Summary: In a fit of wishful thinking, James Rhodes tells his mom that he and Tony Stark are dating.He then tells Tony that his momthinksthey're dating (because, duh, he told her so).Surprisingly, Tony actually agrees to play along with this. It's going to be an absolutedisaster....Isn't it?
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark
Series: 2021 Bingos [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119095
Comments: 2
Kudos: 64
Collections: Ironhusbands Bingo 2020, Marvel Fluff Bingo, Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> When I first got my IH bingo card, I went through it and figured I could probably get 4 or 5 multi-chaptered fics out of it, but I was so busy during most of last year that I never got round to it. Once all that was completed, though, I was determined to get at least _one_ story done. When plotting out the squares, however, I discovered that four of them were in a line. "Hmm," I thought. "Look at that. That's almost a bingo..." 
> 
> Then I sighed and added in the fifth square. So, this story nets me an IronHusbands bingo! 
> 
> It also fulfills a couple of squares on my Marvel Fluff Bingo card, and one on my Tony Stark Bingo, too. 
> 
> So, in order:  
> Chapter 1 - _I5: No Powers AU_ **[IH]**  
>  Chapter 2 - _O4: Lies_ **[IH]**  
>  Chapter 3 - _G5: Inside Jokes_ **[IH]**  
>  Chapter 4 - _B5: Fake Dating_ **[IH/Marvel Fluff]**  
>  Chapter 5 - _N5: Touch Starved/Starvation_ **[IH/Marvel Fluff]**  
>  Chapter 6 - _O1: Confession_ **[IH]** / _T4: Schmoop_ **[TSB]**  
>  Chapter 7 - _O5: Everything Is Just Peachy_ **[IH]**
> 
> Card Number: Mk2003 (IH) | 4019 (TSB)  
> Square Filled: I5 - No Powers AU; O4 - Lies; G5 - Inside Jokes; B5 - Fake Dating; N5 - Touch Starved; O1 - Confession/T4 - Schmoop; O5 - Everything Is Just Peachy  
> Ship/Main Pairing: James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark  
> Rating: Teen  
> Major Tags: Fluff, humor, mutual pining, not-actually-unrequited love, fake dating, touch starved, no powers AU, minor bad language  
> Summary: As above

Hell had frozen over.

“Um, I’m sorry, my equipment must have just fritzed,” said Tony Stark, tapping on the holographic screen in front of him and sending ripples over the unimpressed, but also somewhat sheepish, face of his best friend. “It sounded as though you just said your mom thinks we’re dating.”

Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes – or Rhodey to absolutely everyone except his superiors and his mom, thanks to Tony – winced. “That is… exactly what I said,” he confirmed. “Mom asked me when I was bringing my ‘adorable boyfriend Tony’ to visit.”

“But—” Tony shook his head, confused. “ _Why_ does your mom think we’re dating? What’ve you been saying to her?”

“I don’t _know_ ,” said Rhodey, in a way that sounded incredibly whiny and that Tony was absolutely going to make fun of him for – once they got this mess cleared up. “We were discussing me going there for a week while I’m Stateside, and I happened to mention you for whatever reason, and the next thing she was saying it had been way too long since she’d seen ‘my boyfriend’.”

Tony frowned. “Weren’t you seeing… what’s her name?” He waved a hand in the air, unable to remember the name that he was sure Rhodey had mentioned a time or two previously. “Cathy, Carly, Karen, Caroline…?”

“ _Carol_ ,” said Rhodey, pointedly, “and you know damn well we weren’t seeing each other. And Mom knew damn well, too,” he added, pointing a finger at Tony as he opened his mouth to argue. “Mainly because Mom was the one who caught her making out with Jeannette on the back porch.”

“Okay, but you _were_ seeing someone, weren’t you?” Tony wondered.

Rhodey rolled his eyes. “ _No_ , Tones, I wasn’t,” he said. “Mainly because every time I have even the tiniest bit of leave, you drag me out somewhere and get us both in hot water.” He paused, and then frowned himself. “Maybe Mom’s got a point,” he said. “It _does_ sound a bit like we’re dating.”

Tony snorted. “Oh, please,” he scoffed. “If you were dating me, platypus, you’d _know_ it. And besides, you have that pesky little law thing, remember? Haven’t you explained Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to your mom?”

Now it was Rhodey’s turn to snort. “I did mention it,” he agreed, leaning back in whatever he was sitting on and folding his arms over his chest. “And Mom’s response was that she hadn’t asked me any questions, so I shouldn’t tell her any lies.”

Tony blinked at him for several moments. “ _What_?” he spluttered, eventually. “What the…? Rhodey, _what the fuck_?”

Rhodey cracked up, and Tony felt the corners of his own mouth turn up in what was, no doubt, a nauseatingly soppy grin. Rhodey always had that effect on him, when he really let himself go. He lifted both hands to scrub over his face, in an attempt to hide the smile from Rhodey, and almost brained himself with the wrench that he’d been in the midst of using when Rhodey had first called.

He tossed it aside, ignoring where it landed, and shook his head at Rhodey, who was finally hiccupping himself back to some semblance of calmness. “Fine, I guess one little visit wouldn’t hurt,” he conceded.

Rhodey gave a last little hiccup, and stared, wide-eyed, at him. “What?” he asked, incredulously. “Tony, if you agree to go _now_ , Mom really will think we’re dating!”

Tony fought his expression, biting down hard on the inside of his cheek to try and distract himself from the unexpected hurt that flowed through him. He hadn’t thought Rhodey would object that much to the idea, since God knew they’d all but spent two years of MIT living in each other’s pockets – literally, since they’d shared a dorm room – and _that_ rumour had sped around the campus every two weeks like clockwork. Both of them had just laughed it off, secure in the knowledge that they were _just_ friends.

Even if Tony had occasionally wished the rumours had been true.

“So we let her,” he said now, jerking his shoulder in an approximation of a shrug. “And then at some point when, or if, she brings it up again, you say that we had to break it off because it was about to hurt your career.”

“What?” Rhodey squinted at him. “Tony, no, I’m not saying that—” he began, but Tony shot a glance to the side, pretending someone had just entered his lab.

“Sorry, platypus, gotta run,” he said. “Life of a playboy is never done.” He managed to give his friend a distracted smirk, gesturing for JARVIS to end the call.

“Tones, _wait_ —” was all Rhodey managed to get out before the screen went blank.

Tony sighed and dropped his head into his hands, now thankfully wrench and other implements free.

Being a walking cliché _sucked_.


	2. Chapter 2

Rhodey stared at his phone screen for several minutes after it had gone black. Tony had lied and hung up on him. He might have been a literal genius, but Rhodey wasn’t short of brain cells, either.

Even if, right now, he rather felt like he was.

Mom had always said that lying would do him and his sisters no good, that it would always come back to bite them on the ass – although she had, of course, used much more polite language. But Rhodey hadn’t been able to help it; he’d wanted to test the waters between him and Tony. Just a bit. Just dipping his toe in, really.

Apparently that water was really, _really_ cold.

“Damn it,” he sighed, and tossed his phone onto the desk in front of him. It was unfortunate that he was already at his mother’s house, because there was no way he’d be able to get around telling her what had happened. Because he’d lied to _her_ as well; told her that Tony was enthusiastic about coming to visit her again, and that they’d been tentatively beginning to date whenever Rhodey had time while he was off deployment.

And now both Tony and his mom had the wrong impression about the other one, and things were gonna go right to hell the moment they got within earshot of each other.

“Damn it!” he repeated, more forcefully, and scrubbed his hands over his face. He sort of wished now that he hadn’t said anything, but the wishful thinking had just slipped out of his mouth, and once his mom grabbed hold of a thing, she did _not_ let go for love nor money.

“Sounds like it went well,” said his sister from the doorway, and Rhodey spun in his chair to scowl at her.

“How long have you been there?” he demanded.

Jeannette grinned wickedly at him. “Long enough,” she said, and stuck her tongue out at him. “Problems in paradise?”

Rhodey briefly debated lunging to shove her out of the room and slam the door in her face, but then he’d likely get a three hour lecture on how he should treat his baby sister with kindness and respect, like a real gentleman would treat a lady. The last time he’d tried pointing out that Jeannette was no lady anyway, so it didn’t matter, had not gone well for him.

“I… _may_ have told Tony that Mom thinks we’re dating,” he said, instead.

“And why would Mom think that…?” Jeannette asked, pointedly. She knew damn well why; she’d been in the room at the time.

Rhodey sighed, and drooped. “Because I told her we were dating,” he muttered.

Jeannette crossed to him and ran her fingers through his short hair. “Aw, still feeling the burn of unrequited love?” she asked.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t protest that. His little sister stuck her nose into _everything_ , and it hadn’t taken long, that first time he’d come home from MIT after meeting Tony, for her to suss out that Rhodey wouldn’t object at all to being a bit more than just _friends_. But the younger man had never felt that way about him, and Rhodey wasn’t going to push himself in where he wasn’t wanted and ruin one of the best friendships he’d ever had. So he’d settled for taking whatever he could get, and if he happened to spend a great deal of time pining? Well, that was no-one’s business but his.

And Jeannette’s. And his mom’s. Because the women in the Rhodes family just couldn’t let a man brood all by his lonesome.

“Still, if your boytoy comes for Christmas,” Jeannette began, and Rhodey tensed at the smothered laughter that was already in her tone, “you can always kiss him underneath the mistletoe!”

And she darted from the room, cackling like a damned hyena, whilst Rhodey’s phone slammed into the doorframe just behind her head and fell to the floor, its screen cracked.


	3. Chapter 3

When the arranged day for the visit finally arrived, Tony was an absolute bag of nerves. And so, to give himself just that bit more time, he’d chosen to drive himself to Pennsylvania where the Rhodes family home was based.

It had taken several days before he’d been able to speak to Rhodey again – Rhodey had spouted some tale about breaking his phone by throwing it at his sister. Tony hadn’t realised that Jeannette was apparently made of titanium – and the conversation had been miserably awkward.

But Tony had also had time to convince himself that he could handle pretending he and Rhodey were dating. Sure, he’d wanted this every day since MIT – and every day _during_ , if he were honest – but Rhodey didn’t swing that way, or at the very least didn’t swing _Tony’s_ way, and Tony would rather die than fuck things up enough to lose Rhodey completely. He’d take what he could get and like it.

He was about an hour away when Rhodey called, and Tony had JARVIS route it through the car’s speakers so that Rhodey could hear the noise of the car engine. “Platypus!” he yodelled, cheerfully. “Should be there real soon, honeybear. I just passed the ‘Welcome to Vegas!’ sign!”

“Welcome to Vegas, huh?” Rhodey repeated, his voice ripe with amusement. “Don’t wipe out _all_ the casinos on your way through, Tones; gotta leave something for the tourists—” There was a sharp shriek on Rhodey’s end of the line. “Ow! Mom, what the—?” Rhodey exclaimed, and then the line went fuzzy, as though his friend had muffled his phone in his shoulder.

Idiot. Tony would have thought the other man would have learnt by now that _nothing_ muffled Stark tech.

“Mom, no, it was a _joke_ ,” he could hear Rhodey protesting. “Of _course_ Tony isn’t going to Vegas… What? _What_?!” Rhodey’s voice jumped a solid three octaves. Tony grinned to himself and made a mental note to tease Rhodey about that. “Mom… Mom! Mo—oh my God,” he groaned, coming back on the line. “Shit, Tones, we’ve really gone and done it now.”

“What?” Tony felt the smile slid off his face, and he clutched harder at the steering wheel. “Why? What happened?” he asked.

Rhodey groaned again, and there came a loud _whumpf_ of air as he slumped down onto some kind of chair. “Mom heard us talking about Vegas, and now she thinks you’re coming via there to pick up a _marriage licence_ for us.”

It was a very good thing that JARVIS, bless his mechanical heart, was installed in the car, because it meant that when Tony reflexively jerked the steering wheel, the car didn’t go careening off the side of the highway to land in an exploding ball of fire-y death.

“ _What_!?” Tony demanded, and if his own voice had gone high and squeaky, well, that was no-one’s business but his. And JARVIS’. “ _Marri—_ Why would she automatically assume me passing through Vegas meant I was collecting a _marriage licence_? I mean, for God’s sake, Rhodey, there are easier ways to get one!” There was a ringing silence on the other end of the line. Tony closed his eyes and briefly prayed that JARVIS had somehow managed to cut the call. “Erm…”

Rhodey let out a long, drawn-out breath. Damn it, looked like Tony had prayed in vain. “You… just get here,” he said, eventually, sounding muffled as though he had his hand over his face. “I…” He sighed again, even more heavily than before. “Will go and try to explain to Mom that she’s wrong.”

He hung up before Tony could say anything else, although he didn’t know what he _would_ say. He and Rhodey always joked about arriving at Vegas, ever since that time in sophomore year’s Spring Break when Tony had been supposed to drive to Pennsylvania to pick up Rhodey but had instead been so drunk that he’d forgotten where he was supposed to be going and had ended up in Vegas, playing the casinos.

Rhodey had been seriously unimpressed when he’d had to call Tony eight times to get him to remember the original plan, and the casino owners had been quite relieved to see the back of him as he had, much to Rhodey’s bemusement when Tony had arrived and showered him in literal money, indeed cleaned them out almost entirely.

“Might I be allowed to offer my congratulations, sir?” JARVIS enquired from the speakers.

“No, you may not,” Tony snapped, and settled down to sulk for the remainder of the trip.


	4. Chapter 4

Rhodey was hanging around on the front porch when Tony’s car pulled up outside the house. He hadn’t been able to sit still for the last thirty minutes, especially not after the excruciatingly embarrassing conversation with his mom about the fact that Tony was _not_ passing through Vegas to get a marriage licence for them.

He had known this was going to be a bad idea; it had been going to shit already, and Tony hadn’t even arrived yet!

An odd look passed over Tony’s face when he slid out of the car and spotted Rhodey, but it was gone before Rhodey had a chance to decipher what it was. “Hey there, honeybear,” Tony called, hauling a duffel bag out of the back seat of the car. “That eager to see me, huh?”

“Ah, you know it,” Rhodey agreed, and the glance he shot over his shoulder towards the window into the front room – where Mom and Jeannette were huddled behind the curtain – was only half for show. He always had to take a moment the first time he saw Tony after they’d been separated for a while; he was fairly certain the look in his eyes would be an immediate giveaway.

“So what’s the plan?” asked Tony in a low voice when he finally made his way to Rhodey. “What’s your mom expecting us to do?”

Rhodey froze. _Uh oh_. He hadn’t actually considered that part. “Um, regular… dating… stuff?” he tried.

Tony frowned at him. “Okay…” he said, slowly. “So, like, just act natural?”

“Yes,” said Rhodey, firmly, and nodded to emphasise the point. “Yeah, that. Just act natural.”

* * *

“So, do you and Jim have a date planned for tomorrow night?” Roberta Rhodes asked at dinner that night.

Tony almost choked on the bite of roast chicken that he’d just taken. He swallowed hard and coughed, reaching for his glass of lemonade, while Rhodey seemed to be resisting the urge to slide off his chair and hide under the table.

“Um—” Tony took an overly large gulp of the lemonade. “We, uh, we hadn’t really… planned one?” He tried not to wince; that had come out a lot more tentative than he’d wanted it to. Where the hell had all his game gone? he wondered, fleetingly. He was known as a playboy for a _reason_ , damn it!

But this was Rhodey, and Rhodey was never going to be just a night of fun.

“Well, it just so happens that there’s a funfair in town tomorrow night!” Roberta was all but bouncing in her chair, she was so excited. She beamed at the two of them. “Don’t you think that’d be nice? The two of you, going there together…” She trailed off with a dreamy sigh.

Tony exchanged a resigned look with Rhodey. Somehow, he didn’t think there’d be any getting out of this, not unless they wanted to come clean that they were _not_ actually dating.

And okay, yeah, so he _might_ have watched a few films where guys took their girlfriends to the local funfair on a date, and won prizes for them at various games, held them on various rides, kissed them at the top of the amazingly-conveniently-timed broken down Ferris wheel…

Er, not that he’d been imagining himself and Rhodey doing that, no sir, Tony had not!

He coughed again and used the pretence of drinking more lemonade to hide his face. “Sounds lovely,” he muttered into the glass.

“Mom, I don’t need you to arrange dates for me,” Rhodey protested, then he jerked as Tony kicked him in the ankle. “Um, but, yeah, that does sound nice,” he agreed, faintly. He made a subtle movement, presumably to kick Tony back in return, but Jeannette jumped and squawked instead, and the meal descended into chaos.

* * *

The fair was an absolute riot of sounds, smells and lights, although Tony suspected it had more of an impact after dark. Despite the fact it was still light, it was late enough that most young children had been taken home, and a couple of drinks vendors had switched to selling mostly alcoholic beverages.

By unspoken agreement, although they stopped to watch a few games, they didn’t bother playing any of the point and shoot ones. Even heavily rigged, Rhodey was a member of the Air Force, and Tony owned one of the foremost weapons manufacturers in the world – there was absolutely no doubt that they could wipe the entire stall clean if they so wanted to.

Instead, they settled for stuffing themselves with all of the cotton candy, pretzels, chocolate coated raisins and hot dogs they could stomach, in between egging each other on to the biggest roller coaster the fair had and trying their best to scare each other through the haunted house.

It didn’t include a broken-down Ferris wheel ride, but it was still the best fake date Tony had ever had.


	5. Chapter 5

Going to bed that night was more awkward than Rhodey had ever thought things could be between him and Tones. It hadn’t even been this awkward the very first night they’d become roommates.

His mom had, naturally, assumed that since they were ‘dating’ then they’d want to sleep in the same room. He was quite surprised she was okay with that, but maybe she’d finally gotten the message that he was a big damn boy now.

Or maybe she was just trying to embarrass him.

Sharing the room – or even the bed – wasn’t actually the problem. They’d done it plenty of times before so neither of them should have had a qualm at clambering into bed with the other one now. But instead of curling into him and trying to dig his way underneath Rhodey like he was a blanket, Tony was lying stiff as a board, all but vibrating with tension.

Or maybe he was all but vibrating _because_ he wasn’t curling into Rhodey. Tony didn’t really talk much about his childhood or his parents, even after their deaths, but it had been obvious to Rhodey from the start that Tony was incredibly touch-starved. He flinched away from any and all unexpected contact, but once he became comfortable enough with a person he turned into a human cat, draping himself over shoulders and laps without concern for what the person might be doing. Even in sleep, he craved contact so badly that he turned into an octopus.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” he said, finally, exasperated. “I feel like I’m on a vibrating bed in one of those tacky cheap motels, you’re so tense. C’mere.” He reached out and yanked Tony closer.

Tony lay stiff and tense beside him for all of five seconds, and then abruptly relaxed into him as though all his bones had disappeared. He made a soft noise that Rhodey would never admit was _adorable_ and buried his nose in the crook of Rhodey’s neck. “Sorry,” he murmured.

“You’re overthinking things again,” Rhodey informed him. “’S fine. Not like we haven’t done this before.”

Tony huffed and wiggled a bit. Rhodey, very abruptly, wanted to shove him away again. Not because he didn’t like it – he would have been shit out of luck if that had been the case – but because he _did_. He _liked_ having Tony tucked up against him, all warm, smooth skin and soft breaths and hair strands that tickled his nose.

And at least one part of him was very enthusiastic about it.

Tony, he was fairly certain, wouldn’t retreat with all the speed of a frightened rabbit, because God knows the man liked sex, but it would irreparably change their dynamic, and Rhodey didn’t think he could take having his best friend suddenly start treating him like one of the gold-digging one night stands that constantly threw themselves at Tony. Tony _trusted_ him, and Rhodey didn’t want to lose that.

“So, how long did Pepper let you out for?” he asked, hoping that a discussion about Tony’s scarily efficient dragon of a PA would help distract him from the troublesome thoughts he was having.

“Excuse you!” Tony poked him in the ribs. “Pepper is not the boss of me! I can do what I want, thank you very much!” He sniffed, haughtily.

“Uh-huh.” Rhodey hummed in agreement, waited for another thirty seconds, then repeated, “So how long did she let you out for?”

Tony gave an incoherent grumble. “Three days,” he muttered quietly into Rhodey’s ribs, and then poked Rhodey again when he gave a muffled snort of laughter. “Shut _up_ ,” he whined.

Rhodey clamped his arms around Tony to prevent any more attacks on his sensitive person, but that just led his thoughts right back to where they’d started from – not that they’d ever really left. It was just that something about his mom thinking they were _actually_ dating stirred up a whole bunch of stuff that was making it difficult for Rhodey to pretend everything was a-okay and hunky dory.

And Jesus, he’d been spending _wayyyy_ too much time around Tony if he was thinking things like _that_!

“So, plans for tomorrow?” he asked, trying to shake the thoughts off.

“It’s your place, honeybear,” said Tony, absently, as he began to draw random patterns on Rhodey’s skin. “You tell me.”

Rhodey frowned. “Are you drawing schematics on me?” he asked, instead.

“Um…” Tony’s hand flattened out, right over Rhodey’s heart. “No…?”

“That was the weakest no in the _history_ of no,” Rhodey informed him. “If a drawing’s trying to get out, you can get up and sketch it out, you know.”

Tony shook his head. “It’s not important. It’ll keep,” he said, and then yawned. Rhodey, damn it, followed suit. “G’night, platypus,” Tony murmured, and in the next instant, his breathing evened out as he dropped neatly into sleep.

With his hand still resting over Rhodey’s heart, it took a long while before Rhodey was finally able to drift off as well.


	6. Chapter 6

When Tony woke up on the morning of his third and final day, he was not in the bed he’d been – platonically – sharing with Rhodey, but instead on the couch in the front room, with Rhodey sprawled out and snoring gently underneath him.

He blinked around the room, his brain not quite as awake as the rest of him. Why…? Oh, right, the entire family had been watching a movie last night. He must have fallen asleep and Rhodey had decided not to wake him.

There was a stifled giggle from near his feet, and Tony lifted his head to see Jeannette clamping her hands over her mouth, her eyes gleaming with suppressed mirth.

“Don’t you dare wake your brother, young lady!” Roberta hissed from out of sight. “Bad enough all the pictures you took of them.”

_Wait, what pictures?!_ Tony began trying to struggle upright but was hampered by Rhodey tightening his grip on him. Jeannette’s face screwed up even more, and she ducked out of sight. She didn’t go far, though; Tony could hear her burst out into guffaws as soon as she was out of the room. Rhodey stirred again, gave a couple of snorts, and went lax again, his arm finally loosening enough that Tony could slid out from underneath it.

He was still dressed in the previous day’s clothes, so he didn’t bother taking the blanket that he vaguely remembered Rhodey draping over them at some point. Instead, he tucked it in tighter around Rhodey and then followed Jeannette – and the smell of frying bacon – out of the room.

Jeannette was sitting at the kitchen table, still giggling, as Roberta bustled around cooking breakfast. “Oh, as if you didn’t take your own,” she was insisting. “They’re so _cute_ , Mom!”

“What’s cute?” Tony wondered.

Rhodey’s sister spun around and beamed at him. “Why, you and Jim, of course!” she chirped.

“Please excuse my daughter, she has no manners,” said Roberta, turning to swat at Jeannette with a tea towel.

“Uh-huh, and who else was it I saw standing there taking pictures of their own? Huh? Wasn’t Dad, or Rachel, and obviously wasn’t going to be Jim,” Jeannette pointed out. “Just leaves you, Mom.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Tony waved his hands in the air to regain their attention. “ _What_ pictures? Of _who_?”

Jeannette rolled her eyes and reached for her phone. She tapped and swiped through several screens before turning it so that Tony could see it. On the screen was a picture that had apparently been taking this morning; Tony was nestled under the blanket, fast asleep with his head on Rhodey’s shoulder, and Rhodey’s head resting on top of his own. Rhodey had an arm curled firmly around him, even in sleep.

Tony felt the blood drain from his face as he gaped at it. Jesus Christ, did they always look like that together? Shit, they _did_ look cute, but more than that, they looked like a solid _couple_. Oh, Rhodey was absolutely going to lose his _mind_ …

He lunged for the phone, hoping he’d be able to delete it before Jeannette decided to torment Rhodey with it, but she jerked it out of his reach, laughing. “Nah-uh,” she taunted him, wagging a finger in his face. “Not gonna let you delete it!”

Roberta frowned, obviously more aware than her daughter that something was amiss. “Tony, honey, what’s the matter?” she asked. “If you’re worried that it’ll get out to anyone—”

“No! No, it’s just—” Tony sighed, and all but fell into another chair. He thought he’d been doing so well over these past few days, but he couldn’t keep up the pretence anymore. “Rhodey and I… we aren’t dating,” he confessed, hanging his head and closing his eyes so he didn’t have to see the disappointment and confusion on the women’s faces. “We’re just good friends.”

“Wait, you don’t love him?” asked Jeannette, sounding more confused than Tony had expected.

“That’s the thing; I _do_ love him,” he admitted. “He’s kind and funny and smart enough to keep up with me. Not to mention he’s the most gorgeous man I’ve ever met, and I’ve met most of the men on the Eligible Bachelors list! But—” He sighed, and his shoulders slumped in despair. “He doesn’t think of _me_ that way, and I don’t want to ruin the friendship we already have.”

Roberta snorted. “Sure about that, are you?” she asked.

Tony glanced up, puzzled. “Um, yeah,” he said. “Rhodey doesn’t love me that way.”

“ _Bullshit_!”

Tony jumped and almost fell off his chair at the bellow that came from the doorway. Ignoring Roberta’s prim “ _Language!”_ as she herded Jeannette out of her chair and towards the door, he spun round to discover Rhodey stomping towards him. He slid down in his chair. Shit, Rhodey had overheard how Tony felt, and oh, was he _pissed_ about it!

Rhodey reached out to grip his shoulders, and Tony braced himself to be either shaken or punched. “Bullshit,” Rhodey repeated, at a slightly lower volume. “Tony, I’ve loved you almost since the first day we met. _You’re_ the one who’s never looked at _me_ like that!”

Tony’s mouth fell open, and his heartbeat surged in his ears. “What?” he managed, faintly. “Rhodey, no, you don’t… What?”

Rhodey gave him an exasperated shake. “Tony, I _love_ you,” he repeated. “I told Mom we were dating because I wished we really were.” He suddenly faltered, looking cautious. “Did you mean it?” he asked. “What you said to Mom?”

“What, that I love you?” Tony reached up to grip Rhodey’s wrists, feeling the other man’s pulse beating hard and fast under his fingers. “Yes,” he confirmed. “Yes, I love you, Rhodey. I— _mmfphm_!” The rest of his sentence was lost as Rhodey drew him in and kissed him.

The breakfast burnt, and Roberta would probably have to scrub the kitchen table with a powerful bleach – or just outright burn it – but neither of them cared about that.


	7. Chapter 7

By the time they’d finally removed themselves from the kitchen – and the rest of the Rhodes family had returned from wherever they’d decided to go and get breakfast from – it was almost time for them to start packing to leave. Rhodey didn’t quite want to let go of Tony. He was sort of convinced that the instant he did so, everything would dissipate, and he’d find himself waking up cold and alone on the couch in the front room.

Or worse, still snuggled up with Tony on the couch in the front room.

“Do we have to get up?” Tony wondered, apparently feeling much the same way.

“Well, we could stay here like this, but I doubt Mom or Jeannette would be willing to feed us, plus there’s the matter of the bathroom, _plus_ Pepper would kill you – and me – if you were any later than she’d given you,” Rhodey pointed out.

Tony winced. “Yeah, okay, let’s not anger Pepper if we don’t have to,” he agreed. “She might chase us down, and I don’t particularly want to think about her meeting your mom.”

Rhodey shuddered at the very idea. He pressed a quick kiss to Tony’s forehead and began to wiggle his way out of the bed. Tony heaved a huge sigh but reluctantly followed his example.

It took them much longer than it should have to pack their things. They hadn’t brought much with them, and hadn’t really gained anything to take back, but Tony seemed to feel the need to kiss him after every shirt or other clothing item he folded and, well, Rhodey wasn’t about to argue with that.

“You’re a menace,” he said, fondly.

“But _your_ menace,” Tony replied, and then his hands slowed, and he cast a wary look at Rhodey. “Right?”

“ _Definitely_ mine,” Rhodey confirmed, nodding in emphasis. He shot Tony a sly grin. “Nobody else would take you.”

“Rude!” Tony squawked, and threw a rolled-up pair of socks at Rhodey. “I’ll have you know _everybody_ wants a piece of me.”

Rhodey huffed and threw the socks back. “Long as they’re looking with their eyes, not their hands,” he said. Tony gaped at him for a moment, then collapsed on the bed in hysterics. “Wasn’t that funny,” Rhodey grumbled, but took advantage of the situation to pounce on Tony.

Unsurprisingly, it took them a _very_ long time to finish packing.

* * *

Roberta pulled Tony into a tight, enthusiastic hug once they were finally ready to leave. All their bags were safely packed away in Tony’s car, since Rhodey had gotten a lift from whichever air base he’d come from.

“It was good to see you again, Tony,” she said. “Don’t be a stranger now, you hear?”

“I won’t.” Tony pulled back and smiled at her. “Thanks for having me. And, uh, sorry about the whole…” He waved a hand in the air. “Fake dating, thing.”

“I’m just glad everything got sorted out in the end,” she said, placidly. “Although I do expect certain things to be kept to the correct areas in the future.” She raised a pointed eyebrow at him, and Tony felt himself blush.

“I’ll buy you a new kitchen table,” he promised, sheepishly.

“See that you do,” she said, and turned to hug Rhodey as well. “Love you. Be safe, Jim dear.”

Rhodey groaned, even as Tony felt a wide grin creep over his face. “You _had_ to say it, didn’t you?” he complained, squeezing his mom one last time before letting go.

“Come along, _Jim Dear_ ,” Tony carolled, moving towards the car with such a large spring in his step he was almost skipping. “Got to get going; don’t wanna be late for Pepper!”

“Hey, if I’m Jim Dear, that means you’re Darling,” Rhodey pointed out, trailing behind him and leaving Roberta laughing on the porch. He grinned at Tony over the roof of the car. “Hey, Darling.”

“Of course; I’ve _always_ been a Darling,” said Tony with a sniff, and got into the car to the sound of Rhodey roaring with laughter.

_Jim Dear and Darling_. Well, Tony mused, there were worse Disney pairings they could be.

Now all they needed was a dog named Lady.


End file.
